Lock-pin.



R. L. McELBOY.

LOCK PIN.

APPLICATION FILED 050.23. 1915.

1,192,333. 7 Patented July 25, 1916.

Wiifielsses Bevan/Z01" W g WWW B ROBERT L. MQELBOY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LOCK-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1916.

Application filed December 23, 1915. Serial No. 68,328.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT L. MOELROY, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lock-Pins, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to an improvement in doweling means such as may be used for holding brackets, wheels, and the like, on pivots or bearings, and more especially has to do with a substitute means of a more substantial nature than those now in use, for holding the bows of folding vehicle tops in operative position and is intended to supplant the usual screw and leather strap fastenings by which the usual split pin is attached to the bow to prevent the loss thereof, and at the same time to provide a more efficient means for keeping the pin in its operative position and affording a quick and easy means of release. In ordinary use, as above noted, the leather is exposed to all sorts of weather, heat, oil, and other like detrimental agencies and thereby the leather which holds the pin to the bow arms of the top becomes rotted and the loss of the pin results.

Another advantage of my device is that where the ordinary split pins (which are usually made of some soft metal, such as brass or steel) the split in the pin is depended upon to maintain. the same in its hole, and many times, owing to the softness of the metal and other causes, the split pin becomes less resilient and therefore fits the hole so loosely as to jump out therefrom through the vibration of the car, thereby permitting the bow portions of the top to become free from their fastenings, with the consequential collapse, usually, of the top itself, whereas in my construction the pin may or may not be split, as desired, but it is maintained in its desired position by its resilient bow-attaching means which means is positive in action, easy and quick of manipulation and much longer-lived.

The details of my structure are more specifically set forth in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side, elevation enlarged of my device with its screw fastening. Flg. 2 is substantially a full sized view of my device, showing its attachment to an automobile bow top. Fig. 3 is aside elevation thereof. Fig. I is an enlarged view of the splitpin portion, showing its means of attachment to the spring.

As is well known, in automobile folding bow-tops, owing to their extreme length, it becomes necessary in operating the top, in order to open and close the same, to lift some of the bow elements thereof from their closed-position pivots to the operative or top maintaining pivots. This shifting from one pivot to another is usually done by hand, and in order to afford a ready means to hold the detachable bow in operative or inoperative position with despatch, the pivot pins upon which said how rests is usually drilled with a small hole and into which hole there is placed what is commonly known as a split pin. The split pin prevents the bow from sliding off the pivot pin. Usually these split pins are attached to the bow by means of a leather strip which is looped and screwed onto the fixed or detachable bow member (usually the former) at any convenient point and as previously noted, owing to rotting or disintegration of the leather, these pins become lost and cause a great deal of annoyance.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modification of a split pin 1 which is necked at its upper end 2 in order to receive therein the closely twisted terminal coils 3 of the helical spring 4-, whereby the pin is positively held therein. At the opposite end of the spring holding member, there is formed a loop 5 which is wrapped around the neck of a suitable screw 6. In use, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, the screw 6 is fastened into the detachable bow member 7 in such position that when the spring is in normal operative use as a split pin the spring is slightly under compression so that the pin 1 is held into the pin-hole in the bow-pivot 8 under a resilient pressure and cannot therefore vibrate out. In order to remove the pin from the pivot, it is only necessary to take the spring between the fingers and compress the spring bacEwardly at the same time lifting the pin out of the dowel-hole 9. The spring member 4 may be made of any non-rusting material, such as spring brass or bronze and may be japanned any color to suit the gen eral finish of the vehicle to which it may be applied.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a locking device for the purpose described, a resilient member having a locking-pin' affixed to one end, and an attaching means at the other end thereof.

2. In a locking device for the purpose described, a helical spring having attaching 5 means at one end, and a locking-pin at the other end thereof.

3. In a locking device of the class described, a helical spring, having integral Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. I c 

